January 2012 Kansas Jayhawks Wiretap

Kansas coach Bill Self spoke with his players in a Monday afternoon film session about a trend that needs to stop.

“We haven’t been as energized the last two games. We’ve played flat,” Self said of Wednesday’s 64-54 home victory over Texas A&M and Saturday’s 72-64 loss at Iowa State.

“It’s not about playing hard. I’m talking about just being enthusiastic, energetic. When we do that, we’re pretty good. When we are not (energized), we don’t appear to be near as athletic and don’t seem to make plays that players make when games are tight. When you are energized, it covers up for a lot of mistakes. When you are not energized, then execution and discipline — all those things become more a factor. Against Iowa State the last five minutes, we didn’t get stops. The majority of those times it all came with under seven seconds on the shot clock. A guy reaches, a guy loses sight of his man, a guy doesn’t block out. All these things can be avoided if we are a little more in-tune.”

“This has become a very good defensive spurt team,” Kansas coach Bill Self said.

Kansas has had at least one major defensive burst in each of its last four games.

“I think our energy keys us more than anything else,” Self said. “Before, the common denominator was talent or depth. Here, it’s energy. When we’re turned up, we’re pretty athletic and pay defense so much better.

“You can’t be a spurt team for 40 minutes,” Self said. “And when you play good teams, there aren’t as many spurts because the other teams have good players, too. So whenever you can get a 10-0 or a 12-4 run, that can usually be a difference between winning and losing a game.”

Elijah Johnson swiped three steals, grabbed eight rebounds, and dished out five assists without a single turnover in a win over Kansas State.

"When he had the ball in his hands, he was 5-and-0 against pressure," said Kansas coach Bill Self. "That's good. Defensive rebounding was excellent. To me, Elijah is a calming influence for our team. So I thought he played pretty well."